April 17, 2026
NB Security Services Need Legislative Oversight
FREDERICTON – Green Party Leader and MLA for Fredericton Lincoln David Coon says the recent revelations that former Premier Blaine Higgs sought to give the Office of the Provincial Security Advisor the right to record 911 calls and mine them for data without any public notice is a perfect example of why there needs to be Legislative oversight of New Brunswick’s security service, as in the House of Commons.
“It is extraordinary that it took the former head of the RCMP in New Brunswick, Larry Tremblay, to put a stop to Blaine Higgs’ effort to violate the privacy of 911 callers, said Coon. “It took a complaint by the former Deputy Commissioner to the provincial Ombud to put a stop to it because neither the Legislative Assembly nor the public were aware this was even in the works. If it hadn’t put the RCMP in violation of federal privacy laws, we wouldn’t know about it to this day.”
The Office of the Provincial Security Advisor is a specialized branch of the provincial government’s Security and Emergency Division that reports to the Minister of Public Safety.
New Brunswickers need to be confident their elected government will never use the provincial security service for political purposes,” added Coon. “It’s time to create some accountability and transparency by giving a Legislative committee oversight for the provincial security service, just as Parliament’s National Security and Intelligence Committee has oversight for federal security services.”
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